


I Want

by WolfAndHound_Archivist



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe, Drama, Family, Humor, Post-Second War with Voldemort, Romance, Sex, Work In Progress
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-02-06
Updated: 2004-06-21
Packaged: 2018-05-18 13:48:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 7,407
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5930659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WolfAndHound_Archivist/pseuds/WolfAndHound_Archivist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After DEFEATING Voldemort (oh, joy!), Harry moves in with Sirius and Remus, who can never seem to be able to keep their hands off each other.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. I Want

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Lassenia, the archivist: this story was originally archived at [Wolf and Hound](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Wolf_and_Hound), which was created to make stories posted to the Sirius_Black_and_Remus_Lupin Yahoo! mailing list easier to find. However, even though I still love the fandom, I am no longer active in it and do not have the time to maintain it. To preserve the archive, I began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in December 2015. I posted an announcement with Open Doors, but we may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on the [Wolf and Hound collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/wolfandhound/profile).

I swear I won't tease you, / Won't tell you no lies. / I don't need no Bible, / Just look in my eyes. / I've waited so long baby, / Now that we're friends. / Every man's got his patience / And here's where mine ends. / I want your sex. 

\--George Michael

~+~

Harry's eyes exude happiness as we watch Sirius' clock hand -- the Black one, of course -- spin around the face until it's pointing to 'travelling' instead of 'work', and he looks as though he's going to pass out from sheer bliss when it makes the final movement to 'home'. I'm half-alarmed sometimes by this reaction -- you're going to give Harry a coronary, I jokingly said to Sirius one night. Why don't you give up work and stay at home with us? He just smiled and pounced. I know why you want me at home, he said, flashing a devilish smile and going on to SHOW me how well he understood me.

"He's back, he's back!" Harry yells, and hurtles to the door, opening it and barely giving Sirius time to drop his broomstick before he throws himself into his arms and hugs him tight.

I just smile. He has no idea how cute he looks when he does that. It doesn't matter that he's seventeen, eighteen in three weeks, and taller than both of us now. The pure delight in his face when Sirius comes in the garden gate, and the way he waits with almost as much impatience as I when we see the first twitch of the black pointer, is just... cute.

He'd kill me if he knew I thought he was cute. World-Renowned Vanquishers of Evil Snakey Bastards are not CUTE, he'd say admonishingly. Then he'd just grin sheepishly and probably hug me like he's doing to Sirius right now.

My Sirius. My precious. My dear, darling Sirius... sweet to me even when I'm using my over-sensitised tongue to clean his flushed skin of its pooling sweat, or when his hands are twisted in my hair and he's pumping his salty release into my mouth...

Oops. I'm blushing. Bad werewolf. I should NOT think things like that unless we're alone. Harry gets all squirmy when he catches us whispering filthy things to one another. We're not used to having him around -- he's only been here a week, ever since we... no, let's be fair: ever since HE won the final battle. Most times it feels like he's been here forever, but... well, you know. You get caught up in the heat of the moment (and let me tell you, when Sirius is involved, the heat is pretty damn high), and you begin running your hands over your lover's body, and his pleasure seems to beat his powers of containment into submission until his breathing is all ragged and he's murmuring your name, and you feel what he's feeling because you're not two people any longer, you're ONE person, ONE soul, and you...

Dammit.

"Remus!"

Harry sounds exasperated. Does he know what I'm thinking? Of course he does. What ELSE turns my cheeks this shade of pink?

"Sirius is back!"

Harry drags his godfather (MY Sirius) into the living room by his hand.

"Harry, calm down!" he's saying, sounding amused.

"Yes, Harry, I'd noticed," I say.

He just laughs. "You two want tea? Coffee?"

"Tea," we both say, and he dashes off to the kitchen.

And as soon as he's gone, I'm enclosed in Sirius' arms, seeking any sort of sign that my love is returned by exploring his mouth with my tongue, searching as deeply and as thoroughly as I can. He's obviously looking for the same thing in _my_ mouth, and as our tongues meet and slide over each other, wet and warm and comforting, we simultaneously find our proof. He can feel the heat he's creating in my face, I'm sure. It must be scorching his fingertips, but he doesn't seem to mind too much. And the heat much lower down... well, I'm not sure whether that's mine or his. I think it's a bit of both, and I grab his hips, dragging him forward and crushing our erections together. Yup, it's both.

"Dammit!" someone says. The voice is sort of dim and hazy, as if whoever's speaking is standing on the bank and I'm underwater, drowning in Sirius. I mean, water. God, I can't even think straight.

"I said, DAMMIT!"

Sirius pulls back, and regards Harry calmly, although he's breathing deeply and there's a little smile on his face. "Damn what?"

"Dammit, you're too OLD to look like you're having that much fun when you're snogging."

"OLD?!" Sirius bellows. Harry quickly puts the mugs down on the table just in time, before Sirius wrestles him to the sofa and tickles him.

"Argh, stop... stop it, you insatiable old git!" He's laughing. His laugh is infectious. I know he's never laughed as much in his life as he has over the last week. We're making him happy, and when Harry's happy, Sirius is happy. That's such a wonderful thought.

"Old my arse, Potter!"

"You're, what, forty-five?"

"That had better be a joke!"

"ARGH!"

"Help me tickle him, Remus."

I'm not going over there. I'd just end up twisting the whole tickling thing to my own purposes. Not like that, you sick people! I mean, I'd get RID of Harry, and just...

Never mind.

"Leave me well out of this!" I say.

"We're thirty-seven!" Sirius is yelling, all the while tickling Harry, who's giggling like a schoolgirl.

"All right, I give up, you're thirty-seven, get off me!"

Sirius relents, and Harry sits up cautiously.

"Daft ol-- daft bugger!" He amends his sentence quickly, and Sirius ruffles his already-mussed hair.

"Silly git."

"Oaf."

That strikes me as funny. Don't know why. I lean against the wall and fold my arms, just watching them. They do this a lot. They never mean it, of course, and it's just lovely to watch them pretend to pretend to insult each other.

Sirius thinks for a moment. "Cutie."

Harry looks mortally offended. "Don't say that!"

"Sweetie-pie!" He reaches over and pinches Harry's cheek; Harry bats his hand away and stands up.

"You'd better not say that when Ron's over, it sounds like you're coming on to me."

Sirius looks stricken, then Harry laughs. "Finally, I found something that shuts you up! Must make a note of that. I'm going to my room for a bit." He heads off, and I decide that since words have left Sirius' mouth, I'd better find something to fill it.

"Upstairs," I say softly.

"But... Harry's upstairs," he protests. Feebly. "And Ron'll be here in ten minutes."

"Harry can come back _down_ , or he can ignore us. Ron too. Come on."

He grins suddenly. I knew he wouldn't be able to keep this I-don't- want-your-sex façade up for long.

"Race you!"

~+~

Something touched Harry's arm and he yelped in surprise. Even though his fiercest enemy was dead he hadn't lost his fighting instinct; he immediately whipped his wand from under his pillow and pointed it at his assailant.

It was Ron.

"Shit, you scared me!" he breathed. He removed the headphones (remembering, with a fond smile, what Mr Weasley had said when he'd presented it to him last Christmas: "This is something called a CD player, Harry...") and grinned up at Ron. "Sorry, I didn't hear you come in."

"Well, you wouldn't," Ron grumbled. He jerked his head towards the door. "Have you heard the racket those two are making?"

Harry winced and tried hard to close his ears to the muffled grunts and moans and gasps. He heard someone say, "Oh, fucking... yes!" and his cheeks turned the colour of his Gryffindor blanket.

"God..." he mumbled. "They're always at it. _Always_." He squirmed.

"Sounds like fun, though," Ron said wryly as the cries continued. "Besides," he added, mostly to fill a silence that was broken only by the mantra 'Harder! Harder!', "wouldn't you rather have to listen to them than Vernon and Petunia?"

Harry just looked sickened. "Um, yeah, I suppose so. What do you want to do?" He raised his voice, trying to ignore the thumps coming from next door. "We can play Quidditch or go for a walk?"

Ron sceptically looked out of the window at the sheets of warm summer rain. "It's tipping it down."

"Okay, then." Harry sounded desperate. "We could Floo to the Leaky Cauldron or Three Brooms and get _really_ drunk. Or we could put some music on really loud."

"Ooh, good call. What are you listening to?"

Harry blushed again. "Nothing."

But Ron had already prodded the headphones with his wand and muttered _Sonorous_. A male voice blared out, louder than one of Mrs Weasley's howlers:

"What's your definition of dirty, baby? What do you consider pornography? Don't you know I love it 'til it hurts me, baby? Don't you think it's time you had sex with me?"

Harry hastily turned the CD player off, then desperately wracked his brains, trying to remember the charm that created a huge, gaping, hungry hole on the floor in front of your feet, as the groaning from next door was replaced by hysterical laughter.

Could things _get_ any more embarrassing?

He put off meeting Ron's eyes for a long moment; when he _did_ look at his friend, he realised Ron was smiling.

"George Michael fan?"

Harry was perplexed. "You know who he is?"

"Well, yeah. My oldest brother _is_ a gay Muggle Studies teacher, remember?"

"You mean he teaches about gay Muggle stuff?" Ron raised his eyebrows. "Oh. So, Bill's gay?"

"Yup."

"Bummer. No! Sorry! I meant, that's a shame for Hermione. She fancies him something rotten."

Ron smiled again, and his blue eyes flashed with a cheerful light. Harry gulped.

"Yeah?" Ron said nonchalantly. "Well, Bill fancies _you_."

Harry fell off the bed.

~+~

"What was that?"

"Don't know."

"Do you think Harry and Ron...?"

"No idea. I thought Harry fancied Malfoy?"

"Are you _insane_?!"

"No. I thought Harry might be, though..."

"That's my godson you're talking about, werewolf!"

"Ow! There's no need to hit me."

"Sorry! I'll kiss it better."

"Mmm. That's nice."

"..."

"Eh?"

"Mumblemumble."

"What?"

"I said, what's your definition of dirty, baby?"

"Oho!"

"Well?"

"Well, I've just showed you."

"What do you consider pornography?"

"Um... well, I suppose it's quite pornographic when you do _that_ to me... ah. Ah! Yes! That."

"Don't you know I love it 'til it hurts me, baby?"

"Don't... god! Don't talk with your mouth full!"

"I love you."

"Don't stop!"

"I'm not."

"..."

"..."

"That was... whoah."

"Love you."

"Love you too. You should go pro, you know that, Padfoot?"

"Heh. You think?"

"No! Never, never!"

"Of course I won't! Why would I ever want to?"

"I feel snuggly. Can I snuggle?"

"Of course."

"Mmm."

"Moony?"

"Mmm?"

"I hope they are."

"Harry and Ron?"

"Yeah."

"They'd look sweet together. And Ron's such a nice boy."

"...We sound like Molly."

"Oh my god!"

"I think we should stop matchmaking."

"Good idea."

"..."

"..."

"Moony?"

"Padfoot?"

"I adore you."

"Softie."

"...Meh. You're right."

"Damn good thing, too."

"What, that you're right?"

"That you adore me. 'Cos I adore you too."

"Softie."

"Conceded. Sirius?"

"Remus?"

"Say the next line."

"Huh?"

"Of the song."

"Uh... don't you know I love you 'til it hurts me, baby?"

"You said that one."

"Don't you think it's time you... oh!"

"Hehe!"

::POUNCE::

~END~


	2. Chapter 2

"An' then I said..." Harry slurred, grinning like the village idiot and making huge sweeping gestures that shouldn't be attempted by anyone in his state of inebriety.

Ron swigged the rest of his drink and licked all around his lips for the drips he drooled back out. "Wha' d'you say, Harrr... Harrr...y?"

"I... uh..." Harry frowned, then he started giggling. "Can't rem'ber."

Ron leaned back in his chair and roared with laughter. "Fink we're pissed, mate," he managed to splutter.

"I'll say," came an angry voice from behind Harry. He turned and looked straight up into the face of his very furious godfather.

"Hey, S'rus," he said cheerfully. He brandished a bottle, spilling half of its contents on Sirius' shoes. "Wanna drink?"

His only answer was a fist clenching at the back of his robes, and a whoosh of air rushing past as Sirius Apparated the three of them home.

~+~

The birds were chirruping softly to one another, perhaps discussing the beautiful, sunny day. To Harry, though, they sounded like dying fwoopers. He grunted something incomprehensible and rolled over in bed, pressing his nose into the pillow and keeping his eyes squeezed tightly shut. His head ached something terrible.

"Harry?" Ron croaked from the other bed.

"Sod off."

"You feel like shit too, then?"

"Ungh. What time is it?"

Ron squinted at his watch. "Dunno, I can see about eight hands."

Harry dragged himself upright and swung his legs over the edge of the bed, then waited for his head to stop spinning. It didn't, so he just stood up cautiously and tried his hardest not to fall flat on his face. "Shower... brush teeth..." he mumbled. Ron tried to nod but it hurt.

~+~

Thankful for the banister, the boys made their way down the stairs like weary Everest conquerors, and into the living room.

"Finally," someone said in a tight voice. Harry and Ron glanced at each other, then to Remus. He glared back, his folded arms and scowling brows telling the boys that they were in for a tough time.

"Morning, Remus," Harry said, trying to sound cheery.

"Morning? Ha! It's gone three o' clock."

"Um, 'kay. Where's Si--"

"Here." Sirius stomped in from the kitchen with two pint glasses, filled to the brim with water. He thrust them at Harry and Ron. "Sit. Drink." They sat and drank. His tone of voice held no other option. "Now explain," he demanded.

"Explain what?"

"Explain **what** , Harry?! Explain exactly why you felt it was okay to simply disappear without leaving a note or anything, and why I found you thoroughly rat-arsed in the pub at two am, after searching all over the country for seven hours. And **you**..." he turned on Ron, who shrank back in the sofa. "What would your mother say?"

"Er. Um. Nothing, I'm eighteen."

"Then you should have known better than to let Harry go off like that!" Sirius exploded. Ron's six-foot-two frame seemed to wither and he looked thoroughly abashed, like a little child being scolded.

"Sirius," Harry winced, rubbing his temples, "do you mind not shouting?"

"Harry James Potter, I will shout as much as I damn well like!" Sirius yelled.

Harry's head throbbed and he tried to tamp down his hot temper. "Oh here we go, the three names thing..." he muttered.

"You're a **child** , Harry. I'm your legal guardian. If shouting is what it takes to get sane reason into your head, then I'll do it."

"Sirius," Remus said gently, laying a hand on his lover's arm. Sirius shook it off. He towered over Harry and Ron, his dark blue eyes shooting cold sparks of fury.

Harry reciprocated with a venomous glare from his trademark green eyes. "Sod off, don't try that angle with me," he said angrily. "I'm seventeen. That's the legal wizarding age of majority. If I want to go to the pub with my best friend and get pissed as a skunk with my own money, all to escape the sounds of you two shagging like rabbits, then I'm perfectly within my rights to do so."

Harry thought he might have seen Remus smile for a brief moment, but when he looked again the werewolf's face was solemn and stern. Sirius, taking it a whole lot further, was apoplectic.

"We went to your room to call you down for dinner and you weren't there!" he shouted. "We checked Hermione's place, the Burrow, Dean's, Neville's. Remus even Apparated over the sea to check Seamus' house! We went looking round Diagon Alley, Hogsmeade, even the Dursleys'. You weren't anywhere, and we couldn't send Hedwig with a note because she was out hunting. We thought you'd been kidnapped or something."

"Well I fucking wasn't!" Harry yelled.

"Don't you raise your voice to me!" Sirius roared.

"Don't you raise your voice to **me**!" Harry countered, still almost loud enough to shake the windows in their frames. "You're not my father."

"I'm the closest thing you'll ever have to a father, you ungrateful little fuck, and when you're under **my** roof, in **my** care, you will obey **my** rules! Have some respect, for God's sake."

"Why should I? You don't have any respect for **me**. Do you even think about how cringey it is for me to hear you two having sex all the bloody time?"

Sirius opened his mouth to say something, but shut it when words refused to come forth. He sat down on the sofa opposite Harry and Ron's, folding his arms crossly and looking away. "Fine. Fuck you, then," he said after a pause.

"Don't you wish?" Harry snapped.

Ron bit his lip furiously, chewing it hard between his front teeth. He wouldn't crack, he wouldn't crack... he caught Remus' shining eye with his, and couldn't help it. They both began laughing so hard they were having trouble breathing.

"What the hell are you laughing at?" Sirius growled at Ron, still in Angry Parent Mode. Ron hid his face in a cushion and howled. "Moony, this isn't funny," Sirius hissed.

Remus wiped his eyes. "It is! I'm sorry, it isn't, but it **is**! You two..." he broke off speaking and chuckled some more, shaking his head.

Ron peeked out from behind his cushion at a very bemused Harry. "Do you realise what you two sounded like just then?" he giggled. He put on a gruff voice. "Fuck you, Harry..."

"Don't you wish?" Remus responded in a passable imitation of the sullen teenager. They cracked up again. Sirius tried his hardest to carry on sulking, but the words wouldn't stop running through his head. All at once, he decided they were deliciously funny and laughed.

"Harry, as much as I love you... I'd really rather not go that far until we've had at least one proper date," he chortled.

"SIRIUS!" Harry sounded mortified, but his godfather's raucous laugh was infectious and one glance at Ron's pink face pushed him over the edge. A tentative smile turned to a laugh, and as soon as Sirius held his arms out, Harry vaulted the coffee table and hugged him.

"Sorry I shouted, Harry," Sirius said into his hair.

Harry's hysterics tapered off slowly. "Wow," he said in wonderment when he'd sobered a little. "That was our first fight." He socked Sirius lightly on the shoulder. "You really know how to go off on one."

Sirius clutched Harry perhaps a little more tightly than was necessary. When he pulled back his eyes were deadly serious. "Well, you really scared us," he murmured.

"Then I'm sorry for just leaving like that," Harry said. "And I'm **really** sorry for that 'You're-not-my-father' comment. That was low."

"Well, not really. I'm **not** your father."

"You are, though," Harry said quietly. "Genetics has nothing to do with it, really. Hermione's dad isn't her biological dad, but I've never seen anyone love his daughter as much as he loves her. I never had a father figure growing up. I suppose Ron's dad is sort of like one, but..." He moved over and sat between Sirius and Remus, looping his arms over their shoulders, "...there's no one like you two. I don't think I'm betraying Mum and Dad when I say that. I mean, I know they loved me and I'm sure I'd love them if they were still alive, but they're not. I've never known them, and I just can't love someone I've never known. You guys are my parents, and now I've got you, at the risk of sounding like a complete sap, I have to say I can't imagine it being any other way. I don't **want** it to be any other way, 'cos I love you."

Sirius coughed awkwardly and pushed Harry away, purposely not looking at his earnest face. "Go on," he said throatily. "Hangover potion's in the bathroom cabinet. You too, Ron, Just..." He made shooing gestures with his hands, and waited until they'd left the room before turning and burying his face in Remus' t-shirt. His shoulders shook as he cried from a mixture of relief and love and fear, and when he was finished and lifted his tear-stained face to Remus' with a slightly embarrassed smile, Remus kissed the salty tear-tracks away.

"It's okay," he murmured, drawing Sirius into his arms even more securely.

"I really thought we'd lost him," Sirius whispered.

"Shh. Stop that, he's safe."

"But he isn't," Sirius insisted. He sat up and wiped his eyes. "Yeah, Voldemort's gone. But Harry won't be safe until all the Death Eaters are dead or captured as well. I couldn't live with myself if I let any harm come to him now we've got so far."

"I know." Remus put one leg up on the sofa, bent at the knee, leaving the other dangling over the side. He pulled Sirius close so his back was against Remus' chest, and began to stroke his hair soothingly. "Should we tell him about the letters?" Remus asked hesitantly. "He has a right to know."

Sirius shrugged his shoulders. "I know he has. But he's been so happy over the last few weeks, so outgoing. Have you noticed how much he hugs us now? He wouldn't do that before, as if he thought he didn't deserve affection. I couldn't bear for him to turn back into the scared, insecure little boy he was before."

"He's so strong, though. With the proper training, Harry could be more powerful than Merlin and Dumbledore combined."

"Yes, but magical prowess comes naturally to him. Affection and love is something he's been striving after all his life. Now he has it, and I'm terrified that he'd go back to the way he was before if he knew about the letters."

"Yeah." Remus began running his fingers through Sirius' long hair, making him sigh with pleasure. Sirius' head was his weak point, and having his hair played with or his head massaged could turn him into a gloopy puddle of bliss in less than a minute. "You know what he's like. He'd be afraid of putting you and me in danger."

"You heard him just then. He'd put us ahead of himself without a second thought. Ahead of almost anyone, in fact, except perhaps Hermione and Ron."

"Ron," Remus repeated with a smile. "And Harry. Don't you wish?"

The uneasy tension that their conversation had created was dissolved when Sirius began to laugh again.


	3. Chapter 3

Remus dipped his head and kissed Sirius' lips hard, rearranging his position so he was sitting with one leg on each side of Sirius'. After the little screaming match the day before they'd made a promise to keep their sexual activities a little more discreet. Harry and Ron had wandered to the village shop in search of chocolate, so they were taking the opportunity to indulge in a little quickie in the living room.

Remus gasped as Sirius unzipped his trousers and began to stroke his erection roughly. He was so aroused it was almost painful -- he was used to sex at the **very** least once a day, and they'd barely even touched the day before because they'd ended up going for a walk in the forest behind the house, taking a picnic and playing Quidditch with the boys for so long that it took all their energy just to fall into bed, let alone do anything strenuous.

Sirius' other hand slipped down the back of Remus' boxers to prepare him for the delightfully rough shag they were both craving so much.

"Come on," Remus urged him impatiently. "Just do it, they'll be back soon." Sirius' probing finger reached its destination and Remus smiled, whispering, "Ahh, yes, perfect... what are you **doing**?" he added in annoyance as Sirius suddenly pulled both hands away and pushed on Remus' hips to put distance between them.

"We have company," he muttered. Remus looked over his shoulder. Hermione Granger was there, leaning against the fireplace with a very amused expression on her face.

"No, don't mind me," she said. "Carry on with what you were doing, I'll wait."

"Ha-bloody-ha," Sirius said. "I think not."

"Well, it was worth a try," she said, looking a bit disappointed. "Sorry to intrude, anyway, but a friend's just given me three tickets for the Puddlemere-Cannons match. I wanted to see if Harry and Ron fancied coming with me, but I can come back later if you two want some shag time."

Remus stood up and zipped his jeans, wondering when the studious little bossyboots he'd taught in the third, sixth and seventh years had turned into such a pretty, confident young woman. "No, it's okay," he said. "Sit down. Harry and Ron'll be back in a few minutes. Want a drink?"

"I'll get it," Hermione said. She closed her eyes as if she was concentrating hard, then opened them and stared in the direction of the kitchen door. Moments later, a carton of orange juice flew through the door, slowly and shakily. Hermione bit her lip anxiously as it neared.

"Ooh, bugger," she muttered as the carton suddenly stopped and fell to the floor, spilling its contents all over the carpet. She got her wand out and muttered a quick clean-up spell, then Summoned the carton and three glasses in the usual way. "Drink?" she asked sweetly.

The men just looked at her. "Wow," Remus said weakly. "That was impressive."

"How long have you been able to do that?" Sirius asked in amazement.

Hermione shrugged. "I did it when we were fighting Voldemort. My wand was too far away to reach, but I managed to Summon it like that. Dumbledore's been training me ever since, but it's damn difficult to keep it up for more than a few seconds. He says I should pick it up easily if I keep practising, but it gives me a hell of a headache."

The front door slammed. "Sirius!" yelled Harry's voice from the hall, accompanied by some thumps that they assumed were Harry and Ron kicking off their shoes. "Remus! Are you shagging?"

Hermione giggled into her hand. "No," Remus called back.

"Good," Ron said, sounding relieved. "Listen, guys, we just about bought out the shop as a peace offering for yesterday!"

They came in, each carrying four or five paper bags crammed with sweets. These were dropped on the coffee table when the boys saw Hermione, freeing their arms for huge bear-hugs.

"When did you get so sexy?" Harry asked happily, tucking an errant strand of hair behind her ear. Sirius scowled. The way things were going, Operation Get Harry With Ron, although only a whimsy at the minute, didn't look as though it'd be advancing any further than that.

Hermione just laughed. "Since I ended up snogging someone in the Leaky Cauldron last week."

Sirius grinned and mentally wiped away a drip of sweat.

"Oooo!" Ron's eyes lit up. He was well over his Hermione crush, and started badgering her for details. "Anyone we know? Who was it? Was it good? Did you shag?"

She smiled. "Yes, Oliver Wood, yes, and, um, not 'til last night." She slapped palms with Harry and Ron. "I haven't told Lavender and Parvati yet. They'll flip."

"Oh, let me tell 'em!" Ron begged.

Sirius and Remus glanced at each other. "Teenagers," Sirius muttered jokingly.

As he'd expected, Harry rolled his eyes and turned on him. "Don't you bloody start with this teenager stuff," he said. "You're worse than the three of us put together!" He noticed Hermione grinning at Sirius, and groaned. "Oh, no... what were they doing when you came in?"

"Nothing," Remus said quickly.

"Uh-huh," Harry said sceptically. "You mean the sort of nothing that would get me in serious, grounded-for-the-rest-of-my-life trouble?"

"Hey, you said it yourself -- you're an adult," Sirius reminded him. "You're past the age of consent. You want to go off and get all loved-up and sweaty with Ron, be my guest."

He was distracted from the sight of Harry and Ron turning purple by a beak tapping on the window. Remus hurried over, and his eyes widened. "Harry, take Ron and Hermione to your room and stay there 'til we tell you to come down," he said firmly.

"What? Why?"

"Just do it!"

Harry frowned in confusion and turned to go, but Sirius held his hand out to stop them. "Wait a minute," he said. "Moony, is it the same as the others?" Remus nodded grimly. He still hadn't opened the window, and the tapping was getting more urgent.

"You want...?"

"We should tell him," Sirius said decisively.

"Tell who?" Harry demanded. "Tell **me**? Tell me what?"

Remus opened the window. A huge, jet-black raven flew in and circled the room once before dropping a letter into Sirius' lap. It cawed loudly and looked at them all with a malevolent eye before taking off again.

"Sirius, tell me what's going on!" Harry demanded.

"Okay, just give me a minute," Sirius muttered. The pale yellow parchment was edged in black and the scroll was wound up tightly, sealed with black wax. The insignia pressed into the wax was a skull with a snake.

"Oh my god," Hermione whispered. She pressed a hand to her mouth, muffling her next words slightly. "The Dark Mark?"

Sirius nodded. He scanned the two lines once, then read them out loud in a shaky voice. Whether it was from fury, fear, or a mixture of both, no one could tell.

"Dear Black and Lupin,

"An Invisibility Cloak is not enough to hide your most precious treasure from us."

Everyone looked to Harry, then to his father's old Cloak, which was strewn over the bags on the coffee table, obscuring some of them (and sections of the table) from view.

"Why did you go to the shop under your Cloak, Harry?" Hermione whispered.

Harry swallowed thickly. "Sirius told us to. He didn't want anyone following us home. We thought he was just being paranoid..."

"...but if someone's after Harry," Ron continued slowly, "and for some reason the Invisibility Cloak doesn't work on them..."

"...we're in deep shit," Sirius concluded. "And that's not the first letter we've had. Remus?"

Remus opened a drawer in the desk beneath the window and began riffling through. He brought out a stack of parchment and read the words out loud. "Dear Black and Lupin, our Lord is gone but he will live forever in the deeds of his loyal followers. Guard your treasure well. Dear Black and Lupin, the Fidelius Charm backfired on you once before. What makes you think that it will keep your treasure safe this time? Dear Black and Lupin, locking up your treasure will preserve it, but what is treasure for if not to be shown off? When we take your treasure we will show it off and the world will look on in awe." He came over and fell onto the sofa, leaning his elbow on the arm and his forehead on his hand. "There are seven or eight of them, all referring to our treasure and what they're going to do to get it."

Harry blinked. "Your treasure?"

"It means you, Harry," Hermione said. "Their most precious treasure. You're the thing they love most in the world."

That rang a bell. Harry suddenly had a horrible flashback of how creepy Ron and Hermione had looked with their heads lolling about in the murky water during the second Tournament task, and dragged his mind away quickly.

"I suspected the remaining Death Eaters'd still be after me," he said. "Actually, I got sort of nervous when there was no sign of Dark activity. Why didn't you tell me?"

"We thought we'd covered it," Remus said. He sounded miserable. "A whole chain of Fidelius charms. There are six of us protecting you that way -- me and Sirius, Bella Figg, Fletch, Mad-Eye and Dumbledore. Plus, we've made the house unplottable and unowlable. That's why they're using ravens. The anti-owl charm lets other birds in."

Hermione thought for a moment, lost so deep in contemplation that the others could practically see the well-oiled cogs turning in her head. "So... Remus, you're Harry's Secret Keeper, and Sirius is yours? And so on, up to Dumbledore?"

"That's right."

"A secret contained in a person," she mused. "Okay, then. I get the stuff about this place being unowlable but not unravenable, if that makes sense... but how can the raven find you, without being told where you are? Surely it wouldn't be able to find you, Sirius, unless Mrs Figg told it where to go. Or you, Remus, unless it was getting information from Sirius?"

"No," Ron said suddenly. "It doesn't work like that." Everyone looked at him attentively -- he'd come top of the class in Charms, beating even Hermione by 324% to her 301%, and he knew his stuff. "The Fidelius charm works on coherent beings. A bird can think for itself to an extent, but they tend to be twittery thoughts about worms and which twigs are the best to use for nest-building. They can't communicate with the level of lucidity required by humans, and so... um. How do I explain this? Okay. There's sort of a filter on the Fidelius charm. Beings that can communicate and plot and all that are caught in the filter, but dumb beasts, for want of a better phrase, can slip through because they can't pass the information on."

"Are you sure?" Sirius asked. "Couldn't someone train a bird to do more than simply **find** a person?"

"I suppose they could, but if a bird ever got that intelligent then they wouldn't be able to get through the charm without assistance from the Secret Keeper."

"I see," Sirius murmured.

"Why are they warning you?" Harry asked suddenly. "If they want to take me, why warn you? They know that you'll just up the defence."

"Scare tactics, I'm guessing," Remus said. He looked uncomfortable. "I have no idea, though. That isn't really their style. Death Eaters are all about sneaky plots and brute strength, not arsing about for weeks with threatening letters."

They lapsed into uneasy silence.

"We have to leave," Ron said after a moment. "If they can see through the Invisibility Cloak and they know we've been outside the house recently, they're watching us. And they must be nearby anyway, for the letter to have come so soon. It's crazy to stay here."

"Won't we be easier to find?" Harry asked anxiously. "The Fidelius charm and all that?"

"No, the charm protects a person, not a place," Hermione explained.

Ron suddenly let out a string of vociferous and very colourful expletives, adding to the end, "Someone's betrayed you, then!"

"What?!"

"Hermione said it, Harry -- the charm protects you, not your location. If the Death Eaters saw us in the village, then you've been betrayed. Simple. The only people who can see you are the ones who've been told where you are by the Secret Keeper."

Remus' face turned sickly pale. "Oh, shit," he murmured. "It's like James and Lily happening all over again..."

"The shopkeeper!" Sirius yelled suddenly. "Why didn't we see it before? You shouldn't have been able to buy anything, because the shopkeeper shouldn't have been able to see you!"

Hermione swept the Invisibility Cloak onto the floor and took one of the brown paper bags by the bottom corner, tipping its contents onto the table. She passed her wand over them, muttering, "Reveal." Immediately, a greenish, glowing light seemed to emanate from most of the sweets, and she jumped back in shock.

"The shopkeeper's in on it," she said. "Either that or it's Polyjuice or Imperio or something. Those sweets are chock-full of poison."

Remus turned on the boys, his eyes wild. "Did you eat any on the way back?" he demanded.

"No," Ron said faintly. His hands began shaking frantically, and he twisted his fingers together to hold them still. "We wanted to share them all with you."

"Why does everything go wrong all the time?" Harry asked suddenly. "Something good happens and I think my life might be heading towards some semblance of normality, then everything goes to shit."

"Let's get something straight right now," Hermione interrupted. She was wearing her in-charge expression, and stood there with her hands on her hips, looking (apart from the flared jeans and tank top) like a much-younger McGonagall. She looked Sirius and Remus each in the eye in turn. "Did either of you two betray Harry?"

"Hermione!" Harry cried. "What the hell do you think you're doing, asking them something like that?"

She held a finger up to stop him. "I don't want to, Harry," she said, "but we have to cover everything. Nobody thought Pettigrew would betray your parents, remember?"

"But..." Ron spluttered. "That was different!"

"How?" she challenged.

"She's right," Sirius said quietly. "It's just as likely that Remus or I would betray Harry as it is for one of the other Secret Keepers to betray us."

"So, did you?" Hermione demanded.

"No," Sirius said firmly. He stared at Hermione and she looked back with the same level of intensity, as if searching for the flaw in his perfect eyes that would give her an insight into the hidden depths of his soul. "I would never betray Harry, ever. They could put me under the worst torture imaginable and I wouldn't betray him."

Finally she nodded and turned her attention to Remus. "What about you?"

"Never," he said, with conviction. "Dose me with Veritaserum if you must, but my answer will always be the same as Sirius'."

Hermione nodded and gave them a small smile. "Good. I thought you'd say that. I believe you. No truth potion needed."

"Maybe we should take it anyway," Sirius said, "just so you can be a hundred per cent certain."

"I suppose so, but it's not a priority," Hermione said. She began playing nervously with a strand of curly hair. "I believe you, truly, because I've seen the way you both look at Harry, like he's your world. The only people you seem to love more than him are each other."

"Unfair, Hermione," Harry muttered. "It's a different type of love."

"Still, it's something to be taken into consideration. For example, what would you do, Sirius, if the Death Eaters put you in a situation where you had to choose between Remus and Harry?"

There was another uneasy silence. "How can you ask me to answer that?" Sirius said incredulously.

"Please, Sirius," she said. "You know it's a possible scenario."

He nodded slowly, deep in thought and suddenly very close to tears. What an awful choice to have to make. On the one hand was his soulmate, a man he'd met at the age of eleven and with whom he'd grown up and fallen deeply in love, a man whose absence made him so desperately miserable that it burned with a deep, physical ache. And on the other hand was a boy he hadn't known for as long but had come to love like a son, a boy he'd promised before God to keep safe from all harm. Choosing to let go of Remus would be for the greater good if the hunch about Harry's immense power was true, but Remus was so much a part of Sirius that he'd be betraying **himself** by doing so. Choosing to let go of Harry was the more selfish option. How could he go on living if he didn't have Remus? Then again, he couldn't imagine life without Harry either.

"I can't," he choked suddenly. He jumped up and went over to the window, staring out at the garden as if not blinking would justify the tears overflowing his lower eyelashes. Soon he became aware of someone standing beside him. Without even looking he knew it was Remus, and he turned to the other man, pressing his face into his neck and wrapping his arms tightly around his slim body.

"Sirius, listen." Remus' voice was soft and warm, comforting like his amber eyes and the hands that were rubbing Sirius' back with long, slow sweeps.

"I can't," Sirius whispered again. "I couldn't bear having to choose between you both."

"I know it's horrible, but you have to listen to me," Remus said. His voice was still gentle, but a firm, no-nonsense tone lay beneath it. He touched his fingers to Sirius' chin and forced him to meet his eyes. "Sirius?"

"I'm listening."

"Good. You won't have to choose between us, because it won't come to that. Okay? I won't let it come to that. Dumbledore won't, Ron and Hermione won't. Harry won't, and from the state you're in I know you sure as hell won't." That got a tearful, shaky sort of laugh.

"Too bloody right," Sirius muttered.

"Look away now, Harry," Remus called over his shoulder, before turning back to Sirius and kissing him. It was brief and gentle and perfect, and Sirius felt a bit better.

"I love you," he whispered. "And I need you. Our Harry's all grown up, but still... I can no more do this dad thing on my own than I can keep him safe with no help."

"I **know** ," Remus whispered. He laid his head on Sirius' shoulder, hating Fate or Destiny or whatever it was that had sent Sirius to Azkaban and stripped him of all his self-confidence. "I love you too, and I'm not going anywhere, ever. You know I'll be in this with you both 'til the end. I just hope that's not for a long time."

"Me too."

"You okay now?"

Sirius shrugged. "I don't think any of us are going to be okay until all this crap's over and done with. But yes, I'm as okay as I can be." They headed back to the three teenagers, who had been conversing in urgent whispers in order to give Sirius and Remus a bit of privacy.

"So now what?" Ron asked.

"Now we go to Dumbledore," Hermione said decisively. "You'll be safest at Hogwarts, and Ron had better stay there too if he's been seen with Harry. I'm staying there anyway for my private lessons so I'll be able to keep my eye on you as well." She eyed Harry and Ron sternly. "You two. No Hogsmeade visits, no Quidditch, and absolutely **no** forays into the Forbidden Forest, no matter how tempting the howls and dark shadows are. You're staying in the castle. You can keep yourselves occupied trying to make sense of this whole mess, or revising for the Divination exam re-sits. Despite the fact it's a load of balls, you know I'm disappointed with your grades in that subject."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry and Ron chorused meekly. Ron saluted too, but she ignored him, turning instead to the two older men.

"And **you** two are taking a temporary vow of celibacy. Harry's told me about your insatiability for each other's hot bodies, and I won't have it putting him in any more danger. I'm not saying it had anything to do with what's happened, but if you thought with your heads instead of with your willies you might not have been so eager to get rid of them today, and then you might have realised that this whole thing about their being able to go shopping in the village at all was wrong."

There was a strained pause. "Be fair, Hermione," Ron said eventually.

"Yeah," Harry said. "That's just sadistic. You **know** what they're like."

"Oh, come off it! Sex isn't **that** vital. Look at you two," she added cheekily. "You're virgins and you've still done pretty well so far."

"You're never going to let us live it down that you got bed action before we did, are you?" Harry muttered, although his tone was good- natured.

"Of course not, what are friends for?" She got to her feet suddenly. "Enough chit-chat. Pack your bags, quickly. Bare essentials only -- there's soap and towels and quills and all that junk at the castle. I'll Floo ahead and tell Dumbledore what's going on." She took a pinch of powder from the jar on top of the mantel and was gone in a whoosh of magical flames.


End file.
